China Day 8 -- Guilin Li River Cruise, Yangshuo

Guilin!

The town of beauty. The town of modernism. No joke, everything we saw in this 'burb is new, nice, pretty, or soft. Oh yeah, they have a lot of umbrellas too. No Mao hats or worker's "pajamas" seen in Guilin.

I like the street scenes, especially here. Colorful, vibrant, and youthful are the adjectives used to describe Guilin.

Today, the big event is the Li River Cruise. This is a four-hour boat ride with lunch where you cruise up the Li River. It's spectacular! We hop onto this imitation ferry boat and set off up the river.

This is the classic view of China, (not this photo as much, but in general these mountains of Guilin as seen from the Li River.)

In fact, a photo similar to this one is the picture on the local Twenty-Yuan note, about $2.60.

Like the Yangtze, there is a fair amount of traffic on the river. No barges, but lots of cool sampans, some with a chair strapped on top and "available for tours." This one is more for local living.

I hear this: "Lunch is served. Please make your way to your seat."

...and then I see this: I thought that it was a local delicacy or appetizer or something, and chomped down. How was I to know it was some kid's new pet?

Lunch on the hoof. Everyone loved seeing water buffalo in China, whether it was on the rivers or wandering through streams we passed on the bus. I think that it is because we were all looking to see "the real China" and maybe the water buffalo represented that.

Cruisin' cruisin' cruisin...

We have a nice-looking lunch, but some in our group were hesitant to eat given the less-than-clean lunchtime cooking operation. I tell all this to Lisa, but end up having a little soup and rice (somehow believing that these foods are immune from bacteria). After lunch, we are offered a glass of snake wine. Yes, that is real snake. Having had turtle milk for breakfast, skunk juice for snack, and rat brain soup for brunch, I passed up the wine.

And now, the latest (well, for more than 1,000 years) craze in China: Cormorant fishing! A traditional mode of fishing in China involves the use of cormorants to catch fish. Fishermen on bamboo rafts use strong lights suspended over the water to attract the fish. The cormorants, which are tethered with rings around the base of their necks, catch the fish and then are forced to disgorge them for the fishermen. When their work is done, the rings are removed so they can eat. The birds dive from the "fisherman's" outstretched arms and dive on command. One good cormorant can feed an entire family.

One tiny problem: The fishermen, birds, and shows are staged. Although it's cool to watch the whole procedure, and the Chinese continue to fish this way, few tourists get to see the real thing. This old guy made more money from the tourists than he did catching fish. I have no beef with the fishermen (sorry) making money, I'm just on my quest for the "real China."

Speaking of the real China, this sure looks like it, doesn't it?

The cruise ends and we head into a small town with a shopping area loved by tourists. Lisa and Candy bartered with the vendors for scarves. I felt sorry for the vendors.

After shopping, we headed to an art gallery where we got a lesson on Chinese paintings. Several in our group, as was common, bought several of the silks, paintings, and chops (jade, stone or wood carvings with your name as a stamp.)

Finally, it's dinner time and many in the group decide that it is time for American Grease. We all head for McDonalds for the best hamburger and fries! I love Chinese fare, but bring on the junk food.

The Micky D's was great! They bring out a picture menu for the Whiteys and we just pointed to the grease bombs. They have cucumber instead of lettuce, and the sauce a bit spicy, but other than that, it was the same as you would find in the USA.

After dinner, we are on our own (one of the few times) and we head out to the streets to walk around and shop. When I say shop, I mean walk around and listen to the vendors yell out, "Hallo, hallo, you want T-shirt?" I end up buying a light-weight tripod for about $9.00 and am happy.

In Guilin, we are staying at the Waterfall Hotel. The deal here is that every night, they have a waterfall that cascades over the top of the hotel and rushes down the backside of the hotel. It sounds weird, but looks pretty nice. It also draws quite a crowd of locals coming out at night with their families to watch the free water show.

Like everything in Guilin, it is spectacular and lots of fun. The water, when in full fall, rushes over the top and crashes down into a reservoir, where it is pumped back up to the top for effect.

As night falls, we wander around to Guilin lake to see the two pagodas. Like most tourists spots, this is a commonly photographed scene, but it gave me a chance to try out my new tripod.

Tomorrow, we catch a plane to Xian, the historical capital of China. Tombs, museums, and clay warriors permeate this grey, busy, industrial city, but we had no idea of the beauty that we were leaving behind. I'll miss Guilin, the city of umbrellas.

China Day 7 -- Chongqing to Guilin

We arrive in Chongqing and finally leave our boat. A quick gondola ride up the hill to the large city. Very large. Chongqing is one of the largest cities in all of China and has history for 3,000 years.

I take my last look of the boat and the wonderful Yangtze.

Chongqing is a bit smoggy like Shanghai and Beijing and just as modern.

Like many big cities, there is a large People's Square, where, interestingly enough, hawkers and vendors are not allowed (although some discreetly try) to bother tourists.
In the square, there is a lot going on: parents playing with their kids, kids playing with other kids, Tai Chi, Kung Fu swords, reading, strolling....

and this....

Dancing! We saw this in several squares in China: people dancing. We were told that this is a popular form of exercise. There was a dance instructor there giving lessons, although everyone seemed to dance pretty well.

I love this picture. I saw this little girl happily bouncing along, pushing her little pop toy. I bend down and fire a picture. The flash goes off and she turns around and bursts into tears. Screaming, she runs back to her mother. Half the people in the square turns to see why Whitey made a little girl cry. I just hung my head, hoping to not be beaten to death with bamboo poles.

Time to leave the big city and board a plane to Guilin, home of the Li River and the beautiful mountains. Guilin is considered one of the most beautiful cities in China.

Guilin is the place for green mountains, crystal clear waters, unique caves and beautiful stones. The Li River is the main attraction as it meanders through the "pointy mountains" that you see so often in pictures of China. (You'll see our Li River Cruise in the Day 8 posting next week.)

Lisa gets these great areal shots as we land.

Everything in Guilin is beautiful. The streets are quaint and filled with pretty girls more dressed up than in any city we saw.

Clean and picturesque, I figure this cute town may help soften my leaving-the-Yangtze-depression.

Before checking into the hotel, we board a bus and head for the Reed Flute Cave. Only 3 miles away, the Reed Flute Cave is a brilliant cave marked on almost all travel itineraries. The cave got its name from the verdant reeds growing outside it, with which people make flutes. Inside this water-eroded cave is a spectacular world of stalactites, stone pillars and rock formations created by carbonate deposition.

Candy, thank you for wearing a red dress that day. It made for the perfect picture and your standing in the right spot gives perspective.

The pictures do not look real, I know. Although I did not enhance any photo here, the cave is lit with colored lights for the pleasing effect. When the timed lights turn off (as the group passes through) the caves are a dull brown. There is a pond inside the cave and with the artificial lighting (and no wind) it creates a perfect reflection.

Having no tripod (yet), Gary and I are hopping from rock to rock, trying to find something steady on which to set our cameras.

The Reed Flute Cave is truly amazing. It is big and can hold 1.000 people at one time. During WWII, it was used as an air raid shelter.

The cave is located on a hilly area filled with little shops and lots of tourists. Inside the cave, it was a pleasing 65 degrees. Outside the cave, where the temperature was around 100, cold beers were selling well. I should, however, point out what the Chinese consider "cold". They define it as anything that is two degrees above room temperature. I'm not sure that I had a really cold beer the entire time I was in China. (Too bad they didn't sell beers inside the cave; I could have had one that was a frosty 67 degrees!)

Too hot or tired to walk up the hill? No problem if you have 50 Yuan (about $6 bucks)

Apparent here, Guilin is home to many of China's ethnic minorities. Can there be any doubt that this is mother and child?

Lots of kids in Guilin. Here, a father picks up his daughter from school.

We check into the best hotel we had in China (although all were fine) and are happy to be here. More on the waterfall in Day 8.

Outside our window is the square and a great shopping area.

We head out for the streets and see modern China.

I love this picture. It seemed odd to me at the time, but I learned that it it the most common image in Guilin. Most people have scooters and almost always wear the front protector and "welder's visor." Umbrella for sun and rain protection and a big bag for shopping. Perfect.

1) "Yangtze-Smangtze!"
2) "Welcome to modern China"
3) "No dear, I don't know them.."
4) "Whatever they're selling, I'm pretty sure we need one."

Turns out, these girls work at this bar and restaurant and often get their picture taken.

Our first day in Guilin was fun and we look forward to the Li River tomorrow. (Uh, maybe we'll have just one drink at this local bar before turning in...seems rude not to since they uh, invited me, I mean us....)

Mellissa and I are off to a four-day camping trip and will get back to the blogsite next week for Day 8 and the rest of the trip. Coming up: Li River cruise, Xian and the Terra Cotta Warriers, Beijing Zoo and the Giant Pandas, The Great Wall, The Ming Tombs, Tienanmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Olympic Games sites, and more!

Until then.... Bai Bai